Monday, February 1, 2010

Hot Packs Part 1

Hot packs are an item that some collectors really swear by and others don't really see any value in them. I personally like the idea, but of course it is only worth it if you are able to pull something of value. With all the different sets and options now, memorabilia cards really aren't as scarce as they once were. If a person wants a few jersey cards, they can bid on a lot of different jersey cards on ebay and end up with an 8 pack for about a dollar a piece. So buying a hot pack with a guaranteed jersey card may not be all it is cracked up to be. Over the next couple posts I will show you three different lots I bought on ebay and will see if I did get a deal or did I just get ripped off.

Of the three lots I did buy, every single time the packs came back to me as advertised so I did get exactly what I purchased, but did I get anything to make it worth the cost?

Scenario 1

09-10 Upper Deck Artifact Retail2 packsCost with shipping was $13.39

I like Artifacts for the most part, and in fact if you purchase a hobby pack you are "guaranteed" a hit in each pack. But at a cost of over 15 bucks a pack from my local card shop, $13.39 for two retail hits seems like a decent deal. I would like to say though, all these people offering hot pack on ebay leaves me to wonder if there are any hits left on the shelves of Walmart in their little pack bins near the checkout lines!

The first pack:

First off was a Frozen Artifacts Cam Neely, not a bad pull in the least. I have always admired Camand this is the first memorabilia card I have ever owned of him so that is decent and the swatch though is mainly a dirty off white, I do see a little bit of black as well. Definitely better than a patch of bleached white fabric.

Pack Number 2:

The second pull was a Marty Turco Treasured Swatches. Well at least this wasn't Ruslan Fedotenko, I have far too many of his cards (If anyone wants one, let me know a deal can be had)! But back to Marty, not the worst card to get in the world, but definitely the norm I think when it comes to a lot of these hot pack deals. So one good card and one average card, but in the end this was a pretty decent experience. I think getting the Neely proved this round to have been worth while so I will give it a 7/10.